5 rue Colbert, Place d'Armes, Yvelines
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In the Montgolfier suite at Les Lumières, old posters of hot-air balloons line the walls. It is a small, smart hotel with thirty-one rooms in two old town houses on the Place d'Armes in Versailles, right across the square from the palace gates. Each room takes its name from an Enlightenment figure. In most hotels the posters would be decoration. Here they are local news, because the first balloon ever to carry passengers took off from the palace courtyard, barely a stroll from the hotel door.
That was in September 1783, in front of the court and an enormous crowd. The passengers were a sheep called Montauciel, roughly "up-to-the-sky", with some poultry for company. Marie Antoinette came to watch the balloon being filled but retreated quickly, because the fire smelt dreadful. Eight minutes after take-off the balloon came down a couple of miles away, and the sheep was found calmly grazing. The king rewarded the animals with a place in the royal menagerie, arguably the first frequent-flyer scheme.
Science had performed for the monarchy on its own doorstep, and the monarchy had politely held its nose. That tension is the hotel's running joke. Les Lumières means the Enlightenment, the age of sceptical, clever people whose ideas did the throne few favours, and here they all get a room facing the king's front door. The king keeps a foothold in the garden, where a pear tree of a variety Louis XIV was fond of still grows. Inside, the gilding is generous and the televisions are disguised as picture frames, a very Versailles solution.
The palace is a neighbour rather than an outing. Guests still queue for it like everyone else, shuffling through the state rooms in a flock Montauciel would have recognised, but the walk home takes minutes. It ends in the old ballroom, now a tea room under crystal chandeliers, where the pastries are by Pierre Hermé. Dancing has made way for cake, which most guests regard as progress.
In the Bar des Philosophes, everything poured is French, wine and spirits alike. Apparently the hardest part was finding a French cola that tasted right, a problem Voltaire never had to solve. The restaurant, La Table des Lumières, leans towards vegetables from local growers and wastes almost nothing, though anyone who misses meat can add it to the plate, wagyu included. The age of reason has gone mostly green.
Culture lovers and couples will get the most out of Les Lumières, especially without a car: two stations are within walking distance and trains reach Paris in about thirty minutes, while drivers pay extra to park. Swimmers are out of luck, though the basement hides a compact spa with steam room and sauna. Only the rooms on the square look at the palace, so that side is worth requesting. And anyone determined to sleep inside the gates needs the very different hotel a few minutes' walk away.
Back upstairs, under the balloon posters, the suite keeps a meditation box and a weighted blanket, enlightenment of a more recent kind. Montauciel came down in a field. Guests returning from the palace travel a shorter distance and land a great deal more softly.
Dressed for the ballet
The gold of the Bar des Philosophes takes its cue from the costume Louis XIV wore to dance.
The first floor of the street front is one long room with six-metre ceilings, arched windows over the Place d'Armes, a solid-oak counter and nineteenth-century chandeliers and carpets. It serves breakfast, then lunch and afternoon tea on three tiers, to residents and to visitors coming off the square. It is the hotel's main daytime room, so it is rarely empty.
On the ground floor beside the restaurant, the bar is dressed in gold after the costume Louis XIV wore to dance. The list leans on champagne, Blanc de Blancs, rosé and Blanc de Noirs, with cocktails and wines from Château de Fonscolombe, the group's Provence estate. It takes no reservations, opens every day and moves into the courtyard from spring to autumn.
The restaurant shares the ground floor with the bar: wood panelling, stone and mouldings, and light from the garden. The cooking is French, seasonal and predominantly plant-based, built on local produce, with vegetarian and vegan options and a children's menu. It serves dinner only, five evenings a week, to residents and to Versailles locals alike, so a weekend table is best booked early.
The Suites carry the names of eighteenth-century explorers, among them the Montgolfier brothers, La Pérouse and Bougainville. Each has 40 m², a king-size bed and a separate sitting room with a sofa bed, sleeping up to four, and looks onto either the glass roof or the Place d'Armes. As in every room, a weighted blanket, a meditation box and a yoga mat are waiting.
At a glance
Where
5 rue Colbert, 78000 Versailles, Yvelines; on the Place d'Armes, about 120 metres from the gates of the Château de Versailles, 200 metres from the Royal Stables and 400 metres from the château gardens. Versailles Rive Gauche (RER C), Versailles Rive Droite (Transilien L) and Versailles-Chantiers stations about ten minutes on foot; Paris 20 to 40 minutes by train, about 45 minutes by car; Orly about 30 minutes, Charles de Gaulle about an hour
Why this one
About 120 metres to the château.
Six-metre ceilings over the square.
Three stations within ten minutes.
The Edit Notes
The château is visible only from the Place d'Armes side, and that side is not on offer in every category. Superior rooms look onto the garden or a rear street, Junior Suites onto the garden or patio. Deluxe rooms and Suites come with either the garden, the glass roof or the square, so the view has to be requested when booking. The Connecting Deluxe Rooms face the square, and the Gramont Suite under the roof sees both the square and the Royal Chapel.
La Table des Lumières serves dinner only, from Tuesday to Saturday; on Sunday and Monday evenings the kitchen is closed. The Bar des Philosophes opens every day, serves food and takes no reservations, so on those two nights it is the place to eat in the hotel, or the start of a walk into town. On Sundays the day is better built around the brunch. Guests staying for a weekend should book the Saturday table when they book the room.
Three stations lie about ten minutes' walk away: Versailles Rive Gauche on the RER C, Versailles Rive Droite on the line to Saint-Lazare, and Versailles-Chantiers, with trains from Montparnasse. The hotel gives the journey to Paris as twenty to forty minutes, depending on the line. Drivers hand the car to the valet but pay for parking every night. The concierge books transfers to Orly and Charles de Gaulle; there is no regular shuttle. Undated château tickets can be bought at reception.
For four, two connecting rooms give more privacy than one suite with a sofa bed. The Connecting Superior Rooms make 47 m² over the garden or patio; the Connecting Deluxe Rooms, 60 m², look onto the Place d'Armes; the Connecting Junior Suites reach 69 m². Cots, high chairs and bottle warmers come on request, children find a meditation box of their own and a library of books, and the concierge arranges carriage rides and, from the age of twelve, horse rides in the château gardens.
The price question
The money buys a bed a short walk from the château gates in a house of 31 rooms, with tea, a bar and dinner downstairs. It does not buy a view by default: the square belongs to some Deluxe rooms, some Suites and a few larger rooms, while the entry category faces the garden or a back street. The honest comparison is a hotel in Paris and a day trip by train.
Book it for two nights built around a full day inside the château and its gardens, with a Deluxe room or Suite on the square and Saturday dinner reserved. Travellers who want to sleep within the château grounds, or who are mainly in the region for Paris itself, are better placed elsewhere.
Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle
The only hotel within the grounds of the château, in a house built in 1681 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart beside the Orangery: 15 rooms and suites, a butler for every guest, Alain Ducasse's dining room and a spa with a 15-metre pool.
Hôtel San Régis
Forty-two rooms and suites in an 1857 private house on rue Jean-Goujon in Paris's 8th arrondissement, a hotel since 1923 and run by the Georges family since 1984.
The Extra Edit
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